Trying some of the local brew is always a good idea. Teignworthy Brewery, established in 1994, can now brew up to 100 barrels of beer a week or in beers terms, 28,800 pints!
After much thought and several pints! John, the owner, decided to choose the local name ‘Teign’, taken from the River Teign that runs close by. Worthy comes from the Viking name ‘Wortha’ meaning homestead, which was brought to Devon by Viking Invaders who often traveled and used the River Teign. The brewery itself, is based within Tuckers Maltings in Newton Abbot, South Devon. The Maltings building is now over 100 years old and is still operating at full capacity.
John brews various beers for various customers. The regular beers are Reel Ale 4%, Spring Tide 4.3%, Old Moggie 4.4% and Beachcomber 4.5%. He also has 16 other seasonal brews, sometimes being a ‘one-off’, these include Climate Change 5% and Pumpkin Ale 5.2% and for Christmas his special brews include Santa’s Tale 4.1%, Yule Tide 5%, Winter Daze 5.3% and Christmas Cracker 6%, all these ales have their own special attributes depending on your tastes and preferences.
John has even brewed various beers after his children, these beers are on sale on the children’s birthdays, they are Amy’s Ale, a pale ale 4.8%, Harvey’s special brew, full of golden hops and creamy 4.6%, Martha’s mild, a dark red ruby ale with a biscuit background 5.3% and Pippa’s pint, a dry bitter with flaked maize 4.7%. Martha’s Mild is one of many ales that has won an award recently at their local beer festival. All are available all the year round in bottles. He also has beers commissioned by Tuckers Maltings for their shop, under their Edwin Tucker labels. These are wonderful brews, amongst them their wonderful Indian Pale Ale 6.5%, Walnut Brown 6% and Russian Imperial Porter 10.5%.
John installed a new brew house in 2005 which replaced the original equipment put in some 15 years before. This has enable them to produce 20 brewers barrels at one time, some 720 gallons, a nice lot of beer, needed for all their wide range of 11 different bottled conditioned ales and some 17 seasonal cask ales too!!!
